]
Thy dewy looks sink in my breast;
Thy gentle words stir poison there;
Thou hast disturbed the only rest
That was the portion of despair!
Thy dewy looks sink in my breast;
Thy gentle words stir poison there;
Thou hast disturbed the only rest
That was the portion of despair!
Shelley
LINES WRITTEN IN THE BAY OF LERICI.
LINES: 'WE MEET NOT AS WE PARTED'.
THE ISLE.
FRAGMENT: TO THE MOON.
EPITAPH.
NOTE ON POEMS OF 1822, BY MRS. SHELLEY.
***
EARLY POEMS [1814, 1815].
[The poems which follow appeared, with a few exceptions, either in the
volumes published from time to time by Shelley himself, or in the
"Posthumous Poems" of 1824, or in the "Poetical Works" of 1839, of
which a second and enlarged edition was published by Mrs. Shelley in
the same year. A few made their first appearance in some fugitive
publication--such as Leigh Hunt's "Literary Pocket-Book"--and were
subsequently incorporated in the collective editions. In every case the
editio princeps and (where this is possible) the exact date of
composition are indicated below the title. ]
***
STANZA, WRITTEN AT BRACKNELL.
[Composed March, 1814. Published in Hogg's "Life of Shelley", 1858.
]
Thy dewy looks sink in my breast;
Thy gentle words stir poison there;
Thou hast disturbed the only rest
That was the portion of despair!
Subdued to Duty's hard control, _5
I could have borne my wayward lot:
The chains that bind this ruined soul
Had cankered then--but crushed it not.
***
STANZAS. --APRIL, 1814.
[Composed at Bracknell, April, 1814. Published with "Alastor", 1816. ]
Away! the moor is dark beneath the moon,
Rapid clouds have drank the last pale beam of even:
Away! the gathering winds will call the darkness soon,
And profoundest midnight shroud the serene lights of heaven.
Pause not! The time is past! Every voice cries, Away! _5
Tempt not with one last tear thy friend's ungentle mood:
Thy lover's eye, so glazed and cold, dares not entreat thy stay:
Duty and dereliction guide thee back to solitude.
Away, away! to thy sad and silent home;
Pour bitter tears on its desolated hearth; _10
Watch the dim shades as like ghosts they go and come,
And complicate strange webs of melancholy mirth.
The leaves of wasted autumn woods shall float around thine head:
The blooms of dewy spring shall gleam beneath thy feet:
But thy soul or this world must fade in the frost that binds the dead, _15
Ere midnight's frown and morning's smile, ere thou and peace may meet.
